The Portland daily press., 1887-05-07
STORIES OF HERoIsM,
Railroad Men Who Have Died In the
Line of Duty-The Days of Devotion
to Duty Not Gone.
[Harper's weekIy.1

Last week an express train upon the New
York Central railroad, at o'clock in the
morning, ran into landslide near st. Johns
vile, in the Mohawk Valley. The locomo-
tive was detached, and rolled down the
embankment into the river, but the cars
kept the track. and the passengers were un-
hurt. The train from the OTHER direction
was due about the same time and as the
engineer, Edward Kennah, went down with
MS locomotive, ne cried out, Flag the train,
boysl' and was instantly killed
This was one of the incidents which are
constantly occurring, and which illustrate
the nobleSt character and heroism There is
nothing liner in the anecdotes of famous
heroes than the composure and care for
others in the moment of certain death which
are so frequently shown by railroad en-
ployes. They are the perpetual assurance
OF the survival of the best qualities of hu-
man nature under new and less romantic
forms The old Legends. of Curtius leaping
into the gulf, Of Leonidas at Thermopyl@.
OF Arnold Won Winkelried, are stories of
patriotic devotion. But the bravery is no
truer, the superiority to circumstances is no
more ennobling, than in the case of Edward
kennah, the engineer of st. townsville.
The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,
by its sturdy hardihood, intelligence, and
sound judgment, stands in the front of labor
organizations In this country, and with every
instance OF such conduct as Kennah's, pub
lie respect for it is confirmed.
The dispatches of Thursday gave an ac-
count of another accident in which James A.
Du Blois, freight conductor on the Boston
g. Albany railroad, lost his life in perilous
effort to avert great disaster. Particulars
of the accident show that the young man
died in trying to prevent threatened cellis-
ion of trains, and that the disaster was final
ly averted by the presence Of mind of the
left Springfield at its usual time, and as it
passed through the depot Du Blois was no.
ticed ON the rear of the caboose, taking
time. On its arrival at South Spencer, the
hands, engaged in switching, leaving II cars
on the track. 1t was supposed that the
brakes would hold them, in spite of the
heavy grade, but they were suddenly seen
dashing down the track toward East Brook
field. The train hands at once boarded the
engine and the three cars, and this detach-
ment backed swiftly down the south track in
pursuit OF the runaways. They were over
taken about half mile from South Spencer,
and then the difficult task Of shackling them
on was undertaken, this being the only way
of stopping their mad career, unless some
one could climb ON them and turn the
brakes. The two attachments struck with
such force that Du Blois saw that the former
standing on the car nearest the runaways, he
attempted to leap ON them, but, his boot
slipping, he fell under the car from which he
jumped, and he was horribly mangled by the
wheels. The runaways kept on down the
track, gaining speed every minute. A crowd
had gathered at East Brookfeld depot wait
ing for the way train from Springfield,
which was due in fifteen minutes. The sta
tion agent was the first to descry the cars
dashing down the track on which the pas
senger train was DUE, and, with great pres
ence of mind, he rushed to the switch and
turned it so that when the cars went past
him they ran on to the siding. There was no
obstruction, and they ran to the end. tum-
bling twenty feet over the banks, piling one
on top of the other in the brook below.